I have learned many life lessons from Steve Jobs, though I only became more familiar with him since his passing in 2011.
I was never a big tech fan, nor was I a big Apple fan, but what truly inspired me is the way he chose to live his life.
Reading his biography in the first year of my college marked a turning point in my life. It introduced me to the book Autobiography of a Yogi, which I read soon after, and it made me realise that I am spiritually inclined.
Jobs’ biography was so riveting and fascinating that I spent more time reading it instead of preparing for my upcoming exams at the time.
Many of the quotes below by Steve Jobs are ones that have not only helped me gain clarity but has also transformed the way I live my life.
I encourage you to slow down and contemplate on these words. Enjoy.
“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything – all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.”
"You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something—your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life."
"I’m convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance."
“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.” They somehow already know what you truly want to become.
“When you grow up you tend to get told the world is the way it is and… to live your life inside the world. Try not to bash into the walls too much. Try to have a nice family, have fun, save a little money. That’s a very limited life. Life can be much broader once you discover one simple fact: Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you and you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use. Once you learn that, you’ll never be the same "
"You gotta act. And you’ve gotta be willing to fail, you gotta be ready to crash and burn, with people on the phone, with starting a company, with whatever. If you’re afraid of failing, you won’t get very far."
"Much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on."
“For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: ‘If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?’ And whenever the answer has been ‘No’ for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.”
"I'm a big believer in boredom. Boredom allows one to indulge in curiosity and out of curiosity comes everything. All the [technology] stuff is wonderful, but having nothing to do can be wonderful, too."
"If you just sit and observe, you will see how restless your mind is. If you try to calm it, it only makes it worse, but over time it does calm, and when it does, there’s room to hear more subtle things – that’s when your intuition starts to blossom and you start to see things more clearly and be in the present more. Your mind just slows down, and you see a tremendous expanse in the moment. You see so much more than you could see before. It’s a discipline; you have to practice it.”
"Sometimes life is going to hit you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith."
"Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it."
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